Along the avenue from north to south, the avenue is not far from the sea, and the wilderness in winter is more and more desolate and empty in the face of war, and a few small villages can be seen faintly in the distance, and everyone has long been avoided, lest they be looted by the soldiers and horses of both sides. Under years of education in the war environment, the people here have long understood their own situation, and in the eyes of those who cannot distinguish between soldiers and thieves, the good citizens who keep to themselves are often the targets of their plunder, unless they join them and plunder others together. In order to escape the war, most of the villagers in these villages, which are relatively close to the avenue, have already taken refuge in the mountains.

Although the mountains and wilderness in winter are more difficult than at home, as long as you can survive, what is the point of being bitter?!

The sea breeze swept the water vapor continuously, and some small snowflakes fell from the sky from time to time, blowing on people's faces for bursts of wetness. Standing on a hill beside the road, the banner of the general was erected, and Matsudaira Nobutsuna looked out at the troops marching down the mountain.

Approaching Kumamoto Castle, in order to facilitate the command, Matsudaira Nobutsuna and Li Huayu asked for instructions, and marched the Chinese army with Kuroda Tadashiyuki's First Army.

On the road, with the march of the large group of men and horses, a large cloud of smoke and dust rolled up.

Countless pairs of straw sandals trampled on the ground, and a rhythmic sound sounded. Looking along the avenue in the distance, the same smoke and dust came to the sky, and with the rising smoke and dust, a large area of various flags appeared in the eyes of everyone on the hill.

Those are the family crest flags of the various daimyos.

The people on the hill were looking at the team on the avenue, and the team on the avenue was also observing the Chinese army on the hill.

Along the foot of the mountain. Scattered were hundreds of cavalry, and these cavalry were in a very orderly procession, and the riders stood in front of their horses in a column of five horsemen. It seems to be scattered randomly on the hills, but it has a fairly regular scale. Ten steps from the front and back, two steps from the left and right, and twenty-five steps between the teams. The riders wore eight-petaled iron-tipped helmets with cotton hats underneath them, and all of them were covered with steel cuirass, and cotton armor (i.e., a standard cotton coat issued to protect them from the cold). Behind the back of the fire hammer. Long knives hung from the saddle. Some even pierced the ground with spears and used them as temporary hitching stakes.

The gusts of sea breeze blew the iron helmets and bright red cloaks on the riders' bodies and danced undulatingly. A dazzling fiery red color burned in the eyes of everyone. The hope is like a sea of fire.

"What a majestic team!"

"Everybody has an iron cannon!"

One of the practitioners couldn't help but be sincerely admired.

"That's nature! That's the personal army of His Royal Highness the Great General of the Celestial Empire! Naturally, it is majestic and majestic! ”

The colleague next to him looked enviously at the flags and soldiers on the hillock. While intentionally or unintentionally stroking the long knife on his waist, it was a knife specially made by the Southern Chinese Army for export to Japan, made of nine-turn steel.

The lord said. The shogunate issued a military order, and whoever fought well in this battle and made outstanding achievements could obtain the right to open a treaty port! At that time, the children in the family, I will equip them with such armor, knives and guns! ”

"Yes! At that time, we should have more money than we do now, right? The best products from Nanzhong will also be cheaper, right? ”

The two samurai look forward to a bright future.

After the ranks of the First Army, there was the ranks of the people.

In this battle, it is said that an army of 150,000 people was mobilized, but in fact, nearly 60,000 of them were recruited from various places to transport food for the army.

In order to show its strength this time, the Tokugawa shogunate generously announced that all the supplies for the daimyo army would be borne by the shogunate three meals a day. Even the people also enjoy the food standard of two meals a day and a pound of rice.

"The morale of the departments is very high!"

As the commander-in-chief, Matsudaira Nobutsuna watched with great satisfaction as the men and horses of the brigade under his feet marched south like a tide.

"It's nature. In the art of war, it is said that the one who wants the same from top to bottom wins. Now I, the shogunate, from the shogun to an ordinary ashigaru, want to get rid of the Shimazu traitors in one fight! Morale is naturally high! ”

Kumamoto Castle.

Looking at the ginkgo biloba in the courtyard where all the leaves had fallen and there were only bare branches, the two commanders of the Shimazu army sat down and drank tea opposite each other.

"You've decided?"

"Not bad!"

The governor of the Kayama family, who had arrived from the direction of Kagoshima for reinforcements, took a soft sip of the tea brewed by Nabeshima Katsushige.

"Sure enough, it's good tea. Katsumo-kun's tea ceremony skills have become more and more exquisite. ”

"It's nothing, this is a ship from the Nanzhong merchant Tongguò Godao family not long ago. It is the tea of Hangzhou this year. ”

According to Nabeshima Katsushige's idea, Kamayama Kumamori led the army to defend Kumamoto Castle and at the same time to rest, he led 5,000 men and horses to Kikuchi with 2,000 Nanchu iron cannons and 20 large cylinders, and conducted ambush battles there with the traditional fishing and ambush tactics of the Shimazu family.

"The Kumamoto Plain is southwest of Kikuchi, and the eastern part is the western foot of Mt. Aso, which is the most dangerous. The shogunate army came from afar, the geography was unfamiliar, and the men and horses were tired. I set up an ambush here relying on the terrain of the mountain, luring the enemy with a military horse, and after the two sides came into contact, I lured the enemy team to retreat, and after the enemy pursued into the ambush circle, I killed and wounded the enemy with a large number of iron cannons, the east was the sea of fire of Mt. Aso, the south was our army's iron artillery team, and the west was the sea, if the shogunate army did not want to die or jump into the sea, they could only flee to the north. It is inevitable that the striker will break up his own team. ”

"Wonderful! After that, Katsumao-kun can wave his hand to cover up the past! Re-enact a scene of the battle of the water! ”

"Not bad! Although the shogunate army claims to be 150,000 people, there are many troops, and it is inconvenient to command and echo each other, and our army can be scattered in a whole blow! ”

"Then, if the rebels encounter the ranks of His Royal Highness the Nanzhong Army, what should Shengmaojun do?"

"Although the Nanchu Army allied with the Tokugawa family and cut off trade with the Shimazu family, the Nabeshima family, and the Kayama family, they did not cut off the trade between the Goto family and the Mune, on the contrary, they increased the amount of arms trade with these two families. It shows that the Nanchu army does not mean to kill them all, but our money is not as much as the Tokugawa family! I have given the order to meet the ranks of the South Central Army whenever and wherever I want. As long as the other party does not fire, there is no offense! Even if the soldiers and officers of the Nanzhong Army are captured, they must be treated with courtesy. In particular, teenagers in their teens are not allowed to beat, scold or insult no matter what they do. ”

Taking advantage of the cover of night, the iron artillery team of fifty people handed over the defense with the soldiers and horses of the Kayama family, and along the avenue north of Kumamoto Castle, a team of men and horses quietly set up an ambush in Kikuchi.

Mt. Aso was the junction of the Kumamoto Domain and the Bungo Domain, and Mt. Kuwairina was adjacent to Kikuchi. It is also known for its high mountains and dense forests. There are many cliffs in the mountains. lava exposure; The terrain on the outside is gentle. The Okan Peak on the north side of Mt. Wairina is the commanding height of the entire mountain, and you can enjoy a panoramic view of Mt. Aso. There are many hot springs and waterfalls in the mountains.

Nabeshima Katsushige had already chosen a place, settled the 5,000 men and horses, and hurriedly ordered people not to rest without permission. Immediately arrange gun emplacements for the large barrel.

An order went down. The Kumamoto soldiers, who were known for their hardships and hard work, began to dig trenches without complaint. Repair of fortifications.

Everything was hastily done, and there were sentinels from afar to report, and the banner of the shogunate army appeared more than ten miles away!

"It's finally here! Each department prepares! ”

Nabeshima Katsushige raised the telescope in his hand. Looking into the distance.

"Decoy team, prepare!"

"Stop!"

In front of the Kikuchi River, the advance of the shogunate army suddenly gave an order, and after a burst of flags scattered, the brigade stopped by the river.

"There is a report from the sentry ahead, and Kikuchi has the military horses of the Nabeshima family blocking the road!"

"Go and report to the commander of our First Army, Lord Kuroda! Let him decide! ”

The front was passed to the feudal lord, and the feudal lord reported to the military commander, Kuroda Tadashiyuki was also apprehensive, planning to attack across the Kikuchi River, but he was afraid that he would be calculated by the Shimazu family.

For many years, in the Kyushu region, the tactics of the Shimazu family were well known to everyone, and it was difficult to guard against. His own troops had already suffered a lot of losses when they conquered Shimahara Castle, and now they must not be damaged again.

Soon, the hostile situation in front of Kikuchi River was transmitted to the general Matsudaira Nobutsuna.

"These traitors are so bold, they come to this trick again, and they plan to ambush our soldiers and horses with this means of fishing and ambushing!"

The general Matsudaira Nobutsuna scolded loudly, but there was still a sentence in his heart that did not come out.

"This group of forwards is more fierce than the other when they grab credit, property, and territory, but when it comes to fighting, they cower one by one!"

One of Matsudaira's retainers took out a refined brownish-red cowhide tube, pulled a map from the inside, and spread it on a straw mat woven from corduroy. Later, Matsudaira Nobutsuna, Li Huayu and others were asked to discuss the current military situation according to this map.

"The commander of the First Army, Tadayuki Kuroda, reported that the head of the Shimazu traitors, Nabeshima Katsushige, appeared in the Kikuchi area, with about two thousand men. Kikuchi is less than twenty miles from our army, and it is the only way to Kumamoto Castle, so we need to make a decision as soon as possible. ”

"Decide what? Just hit it! ”

Everyone in the South China Army disagreed.

"Your Highness doesn't know that this is a common trick of the Shimazu family! It is called the fishing ambush, first with a small amount of bait, and then with a large number of military horses to ambush, waiting for the opponent's military horses to pursue into the hub, immediately ambush the soldiers in all directions to besiege, the bait also reflexively killed, several sides of the siege, very vicious. Now our army has mountains and a sea of fire in the east and a sea in the west, and this generation has set up an ambush here to use this trick, which is the most vicious! ”

"That's it! It is the mystery of the Shimazu family's art of war! ”

Several people praised the traditional tactics of the Shimazu family for a while, and they heard that the South Central Army was in a fog. It was easy to gradually listen to the official words of the Ming Dynasty from those shogunate officials of the First Army and the Central Army with a strong Japanese accent.

I see!

It's just that "lure the enemy deep and ambush soldiers everywhere" can be summed up in eight words!

In Nanzhong, children play the tricks of fighting in battle!

For this kind of tactic that was respected by everyone in the Tokugawa shogunate, not only Liang Kuan, who had been mixed on the battlefield for more than ten years, sneered, but even Li Huayu was dumbfounded. "Isn't this the wolf trick that Daddy told me and my siblings when I was a child?"

Before the crossing, Li Shouhan had a grandfather and uncle who were all old revolutionaries in the family environment, and for this kind of guerrilla tactics, the tactics adopted by the army with weak troops and equipment in the face of a strong army can be said to be familiar with it again. Fishing and wild ambush, which is highly respected by countless people, is said to be in the traditional art of war, and it also appears frequently in many literary and artistic works of Chinese folk, and there is often a certain general who is reluctant to chase the enemy. Chased somewhere, a cannon sounded and ambushed the plot. At that time, the Shimazu family didn't know where it was!

Such a tactic is called the wolf lure tactic by the grandfather of the guard, which compares the powerful enemy to a wolf, if you want to fight the wolf, first lure the wolf, what to use as a wolf lure?

It is a small group of armed forces that can run and are determined, the equipment is not too good, and the best clothing and weapons are varied, the purpose is to fish, and the enemy army is fished into a pre-selected ambush location for the main force to clean up, known as the wolf lure.

This tactic had to be used against the ashigaru peasant soldiers who did not have much morale during the Warring States period in Japan. Discipline in the army. Soldiers have been in battle for a long time. If you train well, you will not panic after being surrounded, and you will be able to deploy freely for the generals, and you will defend yourself like an iron bucket; This tactic is self-defeating. lost his meaning.

"It's time for the young marshal to come out and show his hand. Otherwise, this group of dwarves always has superficial respect for the big and young marshal. The heart is not impressed. Liang Kuan, the commander of the Southern Central Army, looked at the shogunate officials in front of him one by one with a pair of small eyes.

"Old and middle-aged. It's a scary art to say, but it's not too difficult to defeat the enemy and open the way to Kumamoto Castle. ”

After Liang Kuan whispered a few words in Li Huayu's ear, a smile appeared on Huayu's face. Said to Matsudaira Nobutsuna.

"What is Your Highness's plan?"

"I don't dare to say the clever plan, my Southern Chinese Army will advance and open the passage, and you will transfer the guns and artillery from the Chinese Army and the First Army to me and hand them over to my command!"

The heralds, carrying the commander-in-chief's command, galloped back and forth among the troops, and with the arrival of the heralds, the iron gunners separated from their respective teams and waited in line by the roadside.

Li Huayu came on horseback, and hundreds of cavalry followed closely behind him, the cloud-like horse team, the morning glow-like banner, the rolling up smoke and dust, and the thunderous hooves, all reminded the daimyo on both sides of the road, who is this and who are you!

On the other side of the Kikuchi River, Hua Yu held the reins.

"Commander Liang, we are here waiting for all the musketeers and cannons to arrive!?"

"Exactly! The eldest young marshal, according to the estimation of his subordinates, at least we can dispatch more than 2,000 musketeers, plus the men and horses of our army headquarters, at least there should be nearly 3,000 musketeers. There are also about 40 artillery pieces, with such firepower, it is not a problem to break through the ambush circle of the opponent! ”

"Good!"

"After the battle, I left a hundred cavalry to escort the young marshal, and the rest of the men and horses were dispatched by themselves."

For Liang Kuan, Huayu already had an idea. According to his mother's wishes, this time he was let out to do errands, and his father not only wanted him to have some training, but also did not let him get acquainted with the soldiers and soldiers of various units of the Nanzhong Army and establish his own team.

These officers who came to Japan with them must have been their first men!

Soon, one after another, the iron artillery teams arrived according to the system of the daimyo to which they belonged, most of them carried arquebuses produced by Nanzhong, and they had all the accessories such as medicine boxes, projectiles, and strips.

Hundreds of people pushed more than 20 large Buddha machines and eight-pounder and six-pounder cannons to the Kikuchi River to stand by.

"It's coming!"

Nabeshima Naoshige's second son and Nabeshima's younger brother Nabeshima Tadashige, who served as the commander of the lure team, looked at the thousands of men and horses who were crossing the river in the distance, and the sound of people shouting and neighing came from him, which made him feel excited before the battle.

"My lord! Something doesn't seem right! ”

An iron cannon general ran from afar.

"The banner erected in the shogunate army is the Nanchu army! And the leader is His Royal Highness of the Southern Central Army! ”

This news surprised and delighted Nabeshima Tadashige.

If His Royal Highness captured the Nanzhong Army in World War I, this Kyushu would really change hands!

However, how to ensure that not a single hair of His Highness is injured when the projectiles rain down is an annoying problem!

"Report to the lord of the domain! His Royal Highness the Southern Chinese Army came in person and asked him to show him what to do! Our army's main team went to the Kikuchi River first to meet the enemy! ”

The teams met on the banks of the Kikuchi River.

Li Huayu looked at the other side, although it was said that it was a troop acting as a decoy, but Nabeshima Tadashige's troops were also quite impressive. Among the nearly 2,000 troops, at least one and a half of the musketeers acted as the assault force and his escort, and about 1,000 of the rest of the troops held high spears several meters long, which was the standard equipment sold to the Shimazu family by the Nanchu Army that year. The rest are all people with long knives hanging from their waists, and they are presumably officers at all levels.

A sound of horses' hooves sounded, and on both sides of the main formation of the Nanzhong Army, dozens of horsemen roared out, galloping away from the formation of Nabeshima Tadashige. The iron artillery teams that saw the formation on the left and right flanks were pinching a cold sweat, "If this is a salvo from the iron cannon of the Nabeshima family......"

Soon. The two teams of cavalry acting as scouts crossed Nabeshima's formation, and smoke and dust like two yellow dragons crossed behind Nabeshima's formation, drawing a circle, and the riders galloped back.

"Your Excellency!"

The cavalry officer came back to report that there had been no ambush within a few hundred paces of the soldiers and horses of the Nabeshima family, and that they had not been found within a few miles of the rear.

"Here today, big thief! Let this group of dwarves see, our South Central Army is not only sharp in artillery, but also capable of field battles and fortifications! ”

Liang Kuan muttered a few words beside Hua Yu, "Young Marshal, it's time for you to come out and cheer up your brothers!" ”

After speaking. Gently slapped on the crotch of Huayu's war horse. Hua Yu's mount led him to run in front of the formation.

A young man wearing a golden crown, a brocade robe, a sword under his side, and a cloak flying in the wind behind his back rode a horse and galloped in front of the military formation. The scene is so moving.

"Who are we?"

"Nanzhong Army!"

"We have enemies in front of us. What to do?! ”

"I'm invincible!"

Wave after wave of roars made the iron gunners on both sides of the Nanzhong Army also boil with their blood. Then he raised the fire gun in his hand and shouted loudly in his mouth that was not very clear.

A trumpet sounded. The South Central Army became extremely quiet.

"Attack!"

"Fire on the shoulder!"

"Fire on the shoulder!" Passwords rang out one after another in the ranks.

In the sound of neat steps, the main team of the Nanzhong Army strode towards Nabeshima Tadashige's formation like a mountain. It seemed that there was a sudden stillness between heaven and earth, and in the eyes of the Japanese people, there was only the sound of the advancing steps of the Nanzhong army. I forgot that this was a battlefield of life and death.

"Fire!"

The uproar continued. The fire guns in the front row, the black pressure turned down their fire guns, and aimed at the soldiers and horses of the Nabeshima family in front.

The sound of popping beans sounded, and the soldiers of the Nabeshima family on the opposite side suddenly saw a row of fires burst out in front of them, followed by a cloud of smoke, and heard a loud noise in their ears. Before he could react, a blood mist collapsed from his and his comrades beside him, and then there were bursts of intense pain, and then he screamed and fell on the ground.

All the Nabeshima iron gunners couldn't help but be stunned, what kind of iron cannon is this, which can be fired without lighting the fire rope?

The sound of metal sounded in the column of the Nanzhong army, and the first row of musketeers did not retreat, but quickly handed the empty muskets backwards through his right hand, and at the same time took the firecrackers handed over by the brothers in the back row to load the projectiles, and continued to fire forward under the command of the team officer. The muskets were passed to the last row, where the musketeers quickly drew their canes, cleared the barrels, and reloaded their ammunition. Their movements are as dazzling as their peers in the eyes of the Japanese people, but they are very familiar with their words, and it doesn't take long at all, and some people don't even need to look at the gun in their hands, they can do blind dressing.

The continuous sound of firecrackers lasted for about a minute, but to the people present it was as long as it had been since the beginning of the world. Could it be that this is the legendary secret iron cannon attack of the heterogeneous?

With the continuous firing of the musketeers, under the continuous blows of the Nanzhong Army's fire within a radius of thirty paces, the firecrackers of the Nabeshima family on the opposite side were almost swept away. Although the firearm in his hand also fired, the casualties caused to the Nanzhong army were less than half of their own. The bullet wounded in the Nabeshima family were all rolling on the ground and wailing in an inhuman voice, and many of them were beaten to the point that their internal organs flowed out, holding those large intestines and small intestines and crying, just wanting to stuff these internal organs into their bodies.

The bloody air was blown everywhere by the sea breeze, and looking at the spearmen and iron gunners on the opposite position, seeing their miserable appearance at a loss for what to do, and the bloody appearance, the shogunate and the famous iron gunners finally woke up from a dream to the shouts and curses of their respective iron cannon generals.

"Light the Rope!"

"Check the sub-medicine!"

"Fire!"

More than 1,000 iron cannons on both flanks fired haphazardly at the formation of Nabeshima Tadashige on the opposite side, knocking over the remaining hundreds of people.

"My lord! Let's retreat! If you don't retreat, I'm afraid that the jade will be shattered here! ”

With a shout, the decoy team that was tasked with luring the enemy reflexively fled.

But where to run?

After the iron artillery team fired a salvo, Hua Yu sent dozens of cavalry to the iron artillery generals everywhere to give orders, don't fire again!

"Our cavalry is about to attack!"

Liang Kuan led two cavalry teams and rushed out of the reserved passages on both sides of the main team of the Nanzhong Army, like the jaws of two iron tongs rushed through Nabeshima Tadashige's brigade and cut them off.

"Those who descend will not die!"

"Those who kneel on the ground and abandon their weapons will not die!"

Then the fire gunners who rushed up, and the stingers with their mouths were bright and shaking, and pointed out a clear way for the remnants of the Nabeshima family.

"My lord! My brother works in the Celestial Empire, and has been there for four years, and soon he will be from the Celestial Empire, we are a family! ”

"My cousin married the military master of your army and became the seventh concubine, we are relatives!"

The soldiers of the Nabeshima family, who knelt on the ground, couldn't help but find out the origin of their relationship with the Nanzhong Army in front of them, lest these killing gods turn themselves into dead corpses on the ground.

How to contain the prisoners and clean up the battlefield has nothing to do with Liang Kuan and others, they just urge the war horses under their crotches to chase the defeated soldiers of Nabeshima Katsushige not far away. After riding for a few miles, I saw the routs in front of me, who were out of breath, rushing across a shallow river, escaping the loops of the river, and following the rolling hills, into the dense thatch.

"Looks like this is where the ambush is!"

Liang Kuan looked at the terrain, there are indeed a lot of soldiers and horses hidden here, and the terrain here is narrow, which is convenient for the ambush side to develop firepower, although the river is not wide, but it can play a role in blocking the advance of the divided troops. What's even worse is that you can faintly hear the sound of the waves of the sea, so close to the sea, if you are ambushed here, you will have to jump into the sea if you don't die!

This season, the sea is cold and biting, and it is better to be killed by fire guns when you get to the sea!

"Tell the young marshal that we have found the ambush of the enemy! Ask him to quickly turn up the cannon! (To be continued......)